West Ham have turned down the chance to appoint Paulo Fonseca as the club's new manager after he met with co-owner David Sullivan on Monday.

Reports that Fonseca had impressed David Sullivan were seemingly wide of the mark with football.london being told by a source that Fonseca's poor grasp of English and apparent unproven record were reasons for them turning him down, not the other way around which is what is being claimed in Portugal.

It was also reported that Fonseca has been house-hunting in London in the aftermath of his 75 minute meeting with Sullivan in the eventuality that he landed the job at the London Stadium.

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Whether Fonseca was simply using West Ham's meeting as leverage to get a better deal at Shakhtar is unknown but it certainly appears to be the case at he was out of contract at the champions at the end of this season.

That leaves Manuel Pellegrini, Rafa Benitez and Unai Emery as the leading candidates for the vacant manager job after it was confirmed earlier on Wednesday that David Moyes had left the club and wouldn't be returning.

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Sullivan said in a statement about Moyes' departure after six months in the capital: "We are already taking steps to identify and recruit the manager we believe can take West Ham United forward in line with our ambitions. We aim to appoint a high-calibre figure who we feel will lead the Club into an exciting future for our loyal supporters within the next ten days."

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